Child Abuse Cover-Up Costs Mormon Church $3 Million

Church Continues to Deny Responsibility Despite Ten Prior Warnings to
Church officials and 1983 Excommunication of Priest for Molesting Boys

At Least 20 Other Victims Have Been Identified

PORTLAND, Ore.

The Mormon Church covered up its knowledge of a High Priest's sexual
molestation of young boys for more than a decade according to a
Portland, Oregon lawsuit that the church paid $3,000,000.00 to settle.
The charges were brought by one of the priest's victims, Jeremiah Scott.
Today, Scott's mother made a statement describing the Mormon Church as
a, "sanctuary for pedophiles.  The church is so concerned about its
public image," Sandra Scott charged, "that it hide the truth from me
that it had recycled a known pedophile into a position of authority in
the church where he had unlimited access to young children."  Scott's
legal team hailed the settlement as, "the first big step for one victim
in the long struggle to expose the Mormon Church's epidemic pattern of
providing a safe and secret haven for child molesters."
Scott is one of 21 victims of High Priest Franklin Curtis who abused
boys in Portland, Oregon, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, and Sheridan, Wyoming.  Curtis, who was convicted of
molesting Scott, has since died.
The church claimed throughout the litigation that it had a
constitutional right to "wipe the slate clean" of any member who had
"repented" for his abuse of children and had been forgiven by the
church.  "It is a policy that puts out the welcome mat for pedophiles
like Franklin Curtis," Mrs. Scott commented.
In a statement attacking the pretrial rulings of Multnomah County
Circuit Judge Ellen Rosenblum, the church stated that it paid Scott
$3,000,000.00 only because it would have cost "significantly more in
legal fees and other costs" to continue with the litigation.  "Nothing
could be further from the truth," responded one of Scott's attorneys,
Timothy Kosnoff of Bellevue, Washington.
"The Mormon Church settled this case because they knew any jury would be
outraged by the proof that the church had known for years that Franklin
Curtis was a serial pedophile.  The church not only venerated Curtis as
a High Priest, but it made him a scout leader and Sunday School teacher
-- and then hid the fact that he was a molester from the whole 
congregation."
The lawsuit alleged that when Mrs. Scott asked her Bishop if it was okay
for Curtis to live in her home, he gave her no warning.  "It would only
have taken one word, but he said nothing."  Kosnoff added, "The church
had seen Curtis ruin the lives of child after child, but protecting
their image is more important than protecting their children."
Sandra Scott's statement concluded that, "The Mormon Church can forgive
whomever it chooses, but it is a sin and a crime to allow known child
molesters to have unsupervised access to children."  Scott's lawyers
pointed out that the church, also known as the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, had been warned at least ten times that Curtis was
using his position as a High Priest, boy scout leader and Sunday school
teacher to seduce and olest young boys.  Twice, the Mormon Church held a
formal court to discipline Curtis for molesting young boys, the lawyers
disclosed, but, "within a year hey welcomed him back as a priest and
agreed to cover up his crimes."  Mrs. Scott blamed the cover up for
Scott's abuse.  "Curtis would never have been allowed near my son if the
church had told me the truth."
Jeff Anderson of St. Paul, Minnesota, who is nationally recognized for
his work representing victims of abuse by clergy and who joined Scott's
legal team this year to prepare for the anticipated trial, described the
Mormon Church's conduct as among the worst of any religious organization
in the county:  "Most churches have finally caught on that they have a
duty to protect their children from pedophiles in clerical garb, but
this church still destroys records and still denies that it has any
responsibility to tell its members the truth."
Scott's Portland attorney, David Slader, who also has represented over
forty victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic Priest Maurice Grammond,
Slader described the Mormon Church as, "the most meticulous keeper of
records in the history of religion.  It knows where its members were
born, when they were baptized and married, when and where they have
moved, how much they contribute to the church each year.  Yet they hide
the fact that they are sheltering a High Priest who will molest any
young boy he can gain access to.
It was within their power to save this child from the horrors of months
of sexual abuse.  We now know of twenty other victims of the church's
cover-up.
Many more may still be living in the silence that shame imposes.  It has
to stop."

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--- Xnews/5.04.25